A Spartan Reborn
by Rikki Rray
Summary: Xander's having some strange dreams, what will Willow's magic find out, especially when she does an oopsie with the spell?


**A Spartan Reborn**

Chapter 1 The Present

Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon. 300 belongs to Frank Miller, I'm only borrowing. Spoilers, post season 7 for Buffy, film, where ya like.

Xander Harris sat at the kitchen table of the Cleveland School for Girls clutching a mug of coffee as if his sanity depended on it. And in a way it did. It had been over a week in America alone since Xander had slept, and that was without what he'd gone without in Africa, and the random snippets of Greek that he kept coming out with. Xander thought he was going insane.

So here he was. Cleveland. And he only knew Rona and Vi, and they were treating him as the Zeppo of old, and that was driving him batty as well.

"Rona, where's Xander?" he could hear Dawn ask.

"In the kitchen probably," he heard Rona answer carelessly. "He lives there now, sucking up coffee and sugar at an alarming rate -"

"And you haven't stopped him?" snapped Dawn harshly.

"We're not his babysitters **Dawnie**, or yours. We've got a job to do -" Rona snapped back bitchily, until she was interrupted again.

"Oh, forget it. Willow and Giles are coming in to see him. Xander, are you ok?" Dawn asked as she entered the kitchen.

Xander looked up at her, gaze empty from all the death he kept seeing in his dreams, on the rare occasions that he did sleep. #Hey Dawnie,# he said to her, in Ancient Greek, not realizing what language he was using.

#Hey Xander, how are you?# Dawn tried again in the same language, thankful for her gift with languages.

#Tired, I haven't slept properly in over a month,# admitted Xander. #And when I do sleep, I'm plagued by these dreams of weird battles, like I'm there.#

As Dawn and Xander chatted, Willow, Giles and Buffy arrived. "Whoa, when did Xander learn Ancient Greek?" Willow asked Giles.

"I've no idea," Giles said, taking his glasses off to help him think.

#Dawn, why are Willow and Giles speaking a foreign language?# Xander asked the younger Summers sibling.

#Uh, Xander, they're not, we are,# Dawn said gently.

#What!# Xander shouted, jumping out of his seat and sending his coffee flying.

Willow just sighed, and decided that the lesser of two evils was knocking him out to calm him down. So she did.

When Xander woke up, he'd been asleep for 30 minutes, and even then he'd been plagued by the dreams. The only good thing about Willow's spell was that it knocked Xander's brain back into Modern English.

"So, what's the theory, Will's?" Buffy asked through a mouthful of sandwich.

Willow shrugged, "I don't have one. What about you Giles? Because we've tried all the usual diagnostic spells, but nada."

As Giles took the opportunity to mull things over, Faith walked in. "What about past life regression?" she said as she sat down after grabbing a coffee and an ashtray. "I remember Professor Dormier talking about it once. And ain't Boytoy's real name Greek or something? Or so little D says. And wasn't he speaking some form of Greek?"

"Er, yes," said Giles, looking surprised to get such a logical and well though out argument from Faith.

"I do have a fucking brain you know," snapped Faith, hurt at Giles attitude, but not really surprised at it anyway.

Xander had caught the end of that exchange, so he walked up to Faith, and put his hand on her shoulder. "He still does it to me too, so don't let it get to you," Xander said as he looked Giles in the eye, his dark gaze seeming to bore down to his soul. "As I see it, Giles thinks that only Willow and Dawn are the only ones with any brains, but Buffy always seems to get a free pass anyway."

"Don't you think thats a bit harsh Xander?" Willow asked softly, as Giles started spluttering.

"Actually, its pretty accurate," Dawn said as she surfaced from a food cupboard. "Especially coming from Xander. Remember the name that Caleb saddled him with? The One Who See's? He sees what we don't, or can't. Well, I see this as well," and then she sat down, and proceeded to build the most bizarre sandwich that they'd seen that week.

"Well?" demanded Faith, "are ya gonna try it, or what?"

"It's worth a shot," mumbled Dawn through her sandwich. "What do you think Xander? It's you that we're gonna do this to after all?"

Xander shrugged as he sat down with another mug of coffee. "I'm game. After a month of not sleeping, and the language episodes, we need to sort this out. What do we do?"

"Research first," said Willow, then weathered the groans from Buffy and Faith. "We can't go into this blind, guys. It could damage Xander. Find the right spell, or whatever, then take it from there."

"But first things first," said Faith. "Lunch. Just, not what Dawn eating!"

By the time evening arrived, Willow had found what she thought was the correct ritual that could be used to access any hidden memories that lay in Xander's subconscious, Dawn had narrowed down the historical period that Xander was dreaming about, and Faith was nearly climbing the walls in frustration.

"Ok, I think we're nearly ready," Willow said as she gathered together everything she needed.

"Willow, are you sure this is the only way?" Xander asked nervously, remembering some of her previous attempts at new spells, and their less than spectacular outcomes.

Faith sniggered at the look on his face as Willow ignored him, and started setting things up. "I'm not going to blow you up, Xander," she said finally. "Just trust me."

"I do, it's just my track record with magic ain't the best," he said morosely, "and I don't wanna end up being turned into something that isn't Xander-shaped."

"You won't, now sit," and Willow gave Xander a dose of her resolve face, which made him sit down where she indicated immediately. Then she cast the circle immediately.

Halfway through the ritual, Xander felt himself leaving, yet staying in one place. If asked to describe it, he wouldn't have been able to for the life of him. But when he opened his eyes, (yes, plural here,) he knew he wasn't in his own body anymore.


End file.
